Judge Issues Gag Order to Lawyers and Witnesses in Manafort Case

Last week, Paul Manafort’s trial judge threatened to issue a gag order after his lawyer called Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s case against his client “ridiculous” in a blistering minute-long sidewalk speech. Now, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has followed through.

"In order to safeguard defendants’ rights to a fair trial, and to ensure that the court has the ability to seat a jury that has not been tainted by pretrial publicity," Jackson said in a written order issued Wednesday that she was barring all parties from making statement to the media or in public "that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice in this case."